Amit Veer – Senior Vice President, Paytm

In lockdown, you might wonder how India’s largest payment gateway, Paytm, has been performing. How much has been the interaction of users and how are they behaving in their patterns? These, and a lot more we tried to understand with Senior Vice President of Paytm, Amit Veer. He disclosed Paytm’s contribution towards the fight against COVID-19 pandemic and much more with Haider Ali Khan.

What is the preparedness of Paytm and its employees to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic? We have requested all employees across india to Work From Home until further notice. Employees are also required to complete in a form with the information on personal or businessrelated international travel. also, everyone has been told to cancel all international and non-critical domestic business travel. We are encouraging the use of videoconferencing tools for meetings. Before declaring Work From Home, all offices were provided with infrared thermometers,

masks as well as hand sanitizers. We have sanitized all our offices by trained professionals. Tech support teams are on call to help all employees stay connected with our network.

Did Paytm lay-off employees to cut on expenses? No, we have not laid-off any of our colleagues.

What’s the surge that Paytm is experiencing since the lockdown? With the country being under lockdown to fight the pandemic more people are using paytm to pay utility bills, mobile & DTH recharges even home delivery of groceries and medicines. in the last month, our overall transactions have increased by 20%. This has primarily been led by Mobile & DTH recharges followed by utility payments which have registered over 30% growth in the same period. Gaming & OTT have also grown significantly in the last 4 weeks.

What is/are the pattern/s of users during lockdown? Are they looking for groceries or doing usual recharges? Users are paying all their utility payments, recharges, grocery buys from the safe confines of their homes digitally through our app. We have revamped the User interface so that it is seamless and easy for paying for home essentials.

With e-commerce down too, did you also experience a slump in Paytm mall? presently, we are focussing solely on ensuring that essential supplies reach our customers in time. at this crucial juncture, we want to ensure that millions of users have all basic essentials needed for sustenance during this ongoing lockdown and pandemic. We already have tied up with more suppliers of essential goods for this initiative. logistics partners will provide swift delivery as well as ensure warehouse space for the additional supplies.

Did you run any promotional activity or coupon to encourage more users to join Paytm? More than offering any

coupons or doing promotional activities we are at the moment focussed on providing seamless and hassle-free service to our users. We know they are counting on us for their payments, home essentials and a lot more. right now the focus is to keep fellow indians safe in their homes and make it possible to reduce their venturing out as much as possible.

What’s your contribution towards this fight against Coronavirus? We are aiming to raise rs 500 crore to pm-cares fund in its fight against the virus and have raised a contribution of up to 70cr so far. These are the list of initiatives taken by paytm during the pandemic:

paytm committed rs 5 crore for indian innovators developing medical solutions related to coronavirus.

paytm and indian Oil corporation limited (iocl) entered into a strategic partnership to enable digital transactions across its fueling stations as well as lpg cylinder delivery ecosystem in the country. This initiative of cashless payments for home delivery will help minimize the threat of spreading coronavirus through currency notes.

launched ‘india Fights corona’ campaign to help prevent & manage the spread of novel coronavirus in communities with the greatest need. in a bid to make consumers life simpler during the lockdown, paytm revamps Ui with Stay at Home Essential payments; launches COVID-19 information centre on the platform to offer verified information directly from the government bodies and health authorities. paytm invites contribution in the fight against COVID-19 spread in india. paytm has teamed up with hotels to offer temporary accommodation for healthcare professionals fighting COVID-19 lists 300 properties across 60 cities to help medical practitioners find temporary accommodation. paytm CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma through his twitter said that he will not draw a salary for the next two months to help those employees impacted by the pandemic.n